Star Fox: The Last Chance

Missing In Action

Fox stared forward at one of the Warp Sones; a trail of dimensional wormhole openings that lead to a Faster Than Light wormhole that allow ships to bypass sections of Lylat quickly. The two "known" Warp Zones were relatively unknown in how they worked; the only thing pilots and scientists knew so far was how to use them. In another time, Fox might have willingly led scientists here as a mission.

Yet, none of this mattered to Fox, as Krystal didn't love him. When they had been dating, that had been the happiest he had ever been since before his parents were killed. Then, she had been shot down over Titania and she had been badly injured. He had been afraid of losing her, and told her she was off active Roster until the Anglars were dealt with. To him; Krystal's safety was more important than his own.

She didn't take it well.

She had yelled at him, calling him many mean things, and stormed off; joining the outlaw gang known as Star Wolf to spite him. "The Krystal you knew is dead." She had told him in a haughty tone he had never heard her speak.

Slippy, his Fiancee Amanda, and even Falco were worried about Fox. They had never seen him this...low...even after his father-the last living family member he had at the time-was killed because of Pigma's betrayal. "I'm leaving to go back to Panther and the rest of Star Wolf" were the last words he had heard from Krystal before he saw her CloudRunner Arwing vanish around the curve of the planet. Then, he got a communication message from Panther Caruso of Star Wolf telling him they were planning the wedding already. Fox just stared forward and closed his eyes, as he fought back tears.

At Corneria, Krystal gave an almost evil grin as her plan was working perfectly. Fox needed to step up his romance levels to win her back! Her CloudRunner had taken advantage of Corneria's curve to vanish out of sight before reentering atmosphere and it came to a stop behind the house Fox McCloud used when his team was off duty. Taking the key McCloud stupidly never made her give back-even after revealing herself to be a member of an outlaw Mercenary Squadron-she opened the door after parking and locking the CloudRunner and shut the door behind her.

To be honest, she never liked Panther, but he had his uses. Panther's mind was too driven by lust-and his annoying tendency to speak in third person and innuendos, while Fox's mind had been pure affection...Krystal shook her head, this plan was to make McCloud work for her-to to reminisce about better times. Part one of her plan; use Panther to make Fox jealous, had worked perfectly. She knew McCloud would eventually come back. She would simply say things between her and Panther didn't work out, and make him sweat and work at making things up to her.

Yet, a little voice in the back of her mind was telling her she was wrong; that she was going to far and becoming a bad person in this situation. Fox's only crime was loving and caring for her-desperate to keep her safe as the others were away. Star Fox had been down to only Fox and Krystal'; Slippy had been preparing to settle down on Aquas with his Fiancee and Falco had been helping Fox with the Great Fox II's incomes by taking solo jobs. That had been when the Anglars had attacked across Lylat; further keeping the team apart.

Krystal squashed that thought viciously. She knew McCloud's habits. He would return, and her plan would go into action.

Not once since the moment he had told her she was off the active roster had she used her telepathy.

Fox entered the wormhole, sad eyes watching the colors swirl around the Arwing II. As he flew along, he remembered some clean up jobs Star Fox had taken after the Lylat Wars when Andross was destroyed-for the first time. When he had seen his father fight against Andross to help Fox land the killing blow.

"You've become so strong, Fox." Were the last words he ever heard from James McCloud.

After that, Star Fox used these wormholes to chase retreating Venom forces.

"You're wrong dad." Fox said. Nothing about his past...or future mattered. Krystal didn't love him. He was utterly alone, as he deserved to be. He wasn't anything special; a skilled mercenary and pilot who somehow became a celebrity. Then...a thought entered his mind. What would happen if he tried using a Warp Gate inside the Wormhole? he had one recently installed in the Arwing II. They were mostly used on Orbital Stations and Capital Ships due to how much power they used. Having his single person fighter generate one could tear it apart within the strain of the Wormhole.

Still, the thought of Death didn't terrify him as much as a future that would be spent utterly alone. With a button, the green Warp Circle generated in front of him, before it went crazy and turned blue, enclosing around his Arwing II and vanishing in what sounded like thunder...leaving the Arwing II's wings and one of it's G-Diffusers behind floating in the wormhole.

That blue explosion appeared in a blue sky of a planet as the damaged Arwing II was spat out of it and it plummeted as gravity took a hold of it. Alarms blared in the Arwing II's cockpit as the damage report flashed on the screen. He had 35% power left. The ship had lost both wings and the right G-Diffuser system. His life support system was taking up 15% of the available power; the engine was mostly burned off, and whatever process happened to the Warp Gate had disabled and mangled the weapons systems. The planet he was crashing towards was green and blue and somewhat looked similar to Corneria; and his sensors said it was the third planet in orbit around its sun. Flames licked the Arwing II's metal plating as it's speed increased. Finally, Fox saw the atmosphere readout. It was very similar to Corneria.

This planet...it almost looked peaceful within its atmosphere, and he let go of the control stick within the cockpit. He hadn't expected to survive this long, so might as well see what was going to happen if he escaped. His ship spun out of control and slammed into the water. Fox kicked open the cockpit and watched his Arwing II sink below the water as he swallowed a mouthful of salty sea water. Fox swam a good distance until he laid against the sandy shores and stared at the sky.

"FREEZE ALIEN SCUM!" A voice shouted out, and Fox turned to see a small group of black armored soldiers holding various projectile-firing guns pointed at him. "We don't know how you got here Covenant Scum, but the ODST are here to kick you off this rock!" That figure holding the pistol said, unlocking the safety on it with a loud click.

Fox may not know that language, but the Translation software Slippy had sent his wrist communicator during the Sauria Crisis was still working. "I...Don't know...anything about...Covenant..." Fox panted out as he stared at the figure holding the pistol at his head with dead eyes while trying to find the right words in the man's language, "Kill me..." Fox said, closing his eyes and accepting his face.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE!" A man shouted that looked like a furless ape said, and Fox opened his eyes as a man in regular green military armor with a few black strikes and a strange triangular black and white logo with the letters "ONI" by the logo said, "He may be just what we need."

"But sir...he isn't human." The ODST said, keeping the pistol pointed on Fox.

"I can tell the look of a person who lost everything." The strange man with the ONI logo said, "And we need people like him if humanity is to have a chance to survive. The Covenant just want to kill us off because of their religion." Fox growled at that, making the man smile as the ODST pressed the pistol hard against Fox's head. "That is the type of person who would be in a certain military group." The gun twitched and lowered as the ODST stared at Fox. The man held out a hand to Fox, who was staring at him in shock. "What if I told you that you could have a new purpose...a new life. By any chance, have you heard of the SPARTAN 3 program?"

Fox glanced at the ground before he placed his hand in the man's.

At Corneria Krystal was somewhat panicking. She had been cornered by Falco Lombardi, Slippy Toad, Amanda (soon to be Toad), General Peppy Hare, and Fox's friends Fara, Miyu, Katt, and Fay. Not only that, but it had been two weeks since any communication came from Fox. "We're here." Peppy said, casting Krystal a scathing look, "Fox has been declared Missing In Action; most likely Killed In Action. Thus, we have nothing left to do but read his will."

"Fox had a will?! He was only 26!" Krystal said in shock with her eyes reddened from crying.

"He wrote one before the final assault on the Anglar Emperor." Peppy said, opening the paper and looking over the contents.

"The first thing he's done is leave Star Fox's leadership to you, Falco. On the condition that you actually help and accept help from others; learn from his mistake." Peppy said and Falco couldn't help but let a few tears roll down his cheeks with Katt rubbing his back. He wouldn't even deny that to save his reputation. His best friend was dead. "The Great Fox is left with ROB to the new Star Fox team."

"Slippy, he leaves you the Blue Marine replacement and the Landmaster. He knew how much you loved those vehicles and working on them." Slippy was openly crying with his Fiancee holding him as she cried.

"Fay, Miyu, Fara, he left you the second generation Arwings used in the Apparoid War, along with a large donation from his personal savings to help your personal businesses. " Peppy said.

"I...I'm not even going to read what I got and skip to the part we all want to know about. What he left Krystal." Peppy said, scanning the paper.

"Bah! Why are we even bothering with her?! It's her fault Fox is dead! If she hadn't been such a spiteful pain in the tail..." Falco said, glaring at her with sheer hatred.

Meanwhile, Krystal didn't respond; as her mind was repeating one phrase constantly, growing louder with each repeat.

You killed Fox.

You Killed Fox.

You Killed Fox!

YOU KILLED FOX!

YOU KILLED FOX!

"Krystal. What he left you is in his room on the Great Fox." Peppy said in a solemn tone. He had read what Fox wrote...and yet, to the end, he never stopped Loving her. The blue vixen stood up and raced through the hallways of Fox's house as she jumped into the CloudRunner with tears stinging her eyes and flew as fast as she could into the hangar of the Great Fox II. She raced to Fox's room and pressed the pass code he had always used since they started dating. KRYSTAL.

His room was a complete mess; which was a shock to her; as his role as Star Fox's leader made him a meticulously neat person; even if only to know where everything was. Yet, there, on his bed, was her beloved staff. The only thing besides her tiara that was from her destroyed planet. She had thought it was destroyed when Peppy rammed James McCloud's Great Fox into the Apparoid Home World. Her staff hummed as she picked it up and let her tears fall on it, only for it's glowing portions to go dark.

"NO!" She screamed, opening her telepathy to her staff to try and show it she was the same Krystal as she was on Sauria...but, even without a mind, it could sense that wasn't true. It had gone dormant. The powers Fox had found for it on Sauria were now inaccessible to her. With her Telepathy open to the room, she was bombarded with Fox's emotions that had saturated the room. Love. Loss. Hopelessness. Sorrow. Anger. Regret. Each emotion stabbed deeper into her heart. Yet, the feelings of Regret, Sorrow, Loss, and Hopelessness increased around a drawer. Each emotion pounded her senses as she walked towards the drawer and pulled it open; only to sob loudly. A single, open velvet box with a golden engagement ring tipped by a diamond sat so innocently.

In Fox's unique handwriting were the words "Settle down with Krystal after the Anglar situation". Only then, the rest of the paper was soaked with tears and recently, in unsteady writing were the words "She doesn't love me." and "Panther said she's planning to marry him." Tears came to her eyes as she picked up the box and placed the ring on her left ring finger. For a moment, she saw Fox smiling at her, helping fit the ring on her finger as he smiled at her. He opened his mouth, and gave a sob of pure anguish before he vanished.

"He's alive..." Krystal said as she slid the ring off her finger and placed it back in the box. Then, she groaned as she saw her Star Wolf outfit; the one she specifically made to mock his usual appearance. She quickly tossed it off of her and grabbed the first things she could, her old Apparoid War outfit she had left in his room. A sad smile spread across her face as she remembered the times she gave him flirty poses and watched him stutter and lose his calm composure and become a cute, bashful version of himself. Still, it wasn't complete...she couldn't just pretend the horrible acts of spite she committed were wiped away. She needed a reminder.

Said reminder sat across the desk across from Fox's bed; his father's red scarf. She picked it up with an almost worshiping reverence as she tied it around her neck. She took a deep breath, inhaling Fox's scent that lingered on it. Her telepathy picked up on the others in the Great Fox II. Fara, Miyu, and Fay had left; and she could sense Falco's disbelief that Fox left the remainder of his savings to be divided among Star Fox.

Krystal then...picked up a faint signal, filled with sorrow. She ran out and pressed a few buttons on the Great Fox II's communication screen. There was a language she didn't understand; she worked on finding Slippy's translator on the controls. "Lieutenant Fox J. McCloud. Spartan B-Three One Two." It finally translated the language to the one spoken on Sauria; a language she knew. "Our victory...your victory...was so close...I wish you could have lived to see it. But you belonged to Reach. Your body...your armor...all burned and turned to Glass." She immediately shut down the signal and watched the data on the console. Noble Team; Fall of Reach; 2552. Orion arm of the Milky Way Galaxy.

"I need Star fox whole again!" Krystal said as a few tears fell from her eyes, "Otherwise Fox is going to die!"

"Say no more!" Slippy said. Falco glared at her before he let out a loud "BAH!" And threw his arms in the air.

"I'm no good at the leadership stuff, I'm a better hotshot pilot than a leader." Falco said, "Let's get Fox back in his rightful role."

Fox stared at the silver visor of the Forest Green and Coral Orange ODST MJOLNIR Mark V armor with the CBRN/HUL attachment for hazardous environments; extended to fit over his head. He had a titanium nano-composite bodysuit covering from his neck all the ways to his toes; even covering his tail. His left wrist had a UA/BUCKLER attachment for added damage and protection on his left wrist, and his chest plate was a specialized Tactical/RECON system with six black pouches across his titanium Forest Green and Coral Orange MJOLNIR Mark V armor; with a large, sheathed Titanium combat knife strapped to the upper left side of his chest. His shoulder plates were unique; as his right shoulder was guarded by a RECON plate to allow full use of motion, and his left had a JFO armor plate that was designed to improve artillery request communication and coordination.

While the rest of his armor seemed pretty generic, except for the FJ/PARA class Knee guards; which were designed for airborne units; as it offered the maximum amount of protection with the minimum amount of weight. Within the passenger seat of the M831 Troop Transport Warthog jeep, Fox gazed forwards at the grassy fields surrounding the dirt road that stretched outwards. Making a quick check, he saw his M6 Magnum magnetically attached to his right leg and the Ma37 Assault Rifle magnetically locked to his back. Without a word or any emotion shown, he turned his helmet around and slid it back over his head.

Krystal's actions had destroyed Fox; his old life was gone. Now, he was reborn.

He was Spartan B Three One Two (B-312), Lieutenant in the United Nations Space Command. Danger level Hyper Lethal; matching the legendary Spartan II Master Chief Petty Officer John-117...

And he was being reassigned to this planet. He was now on Reach; home and birthplace of the SPARTAN program.